Draft UN resolution targets Iran's role in Yemen

A new draft UN Security Council resolution put forward by the UK, US and France would condemn Iran for failing to prevent Houthi rebels in Yemen from obtaining ballistic missiles, reported Reuters.

The text, which was drafted by Britain, would allow the security council to impose sanctions for "any activity related to the use of ballistic missiles in Yemen".

President Donald Trump has lobbied for months for Iran to be held accountable at the UN and has repeatedly threatened to walk away from the P5+1 nuclear deal.

"[T]he Iranian regime's support of dangerous militias and terror groups has markedly increased. Its missiles and advanced weapons are turning up in war zones all across the Middle East," wrote US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, in a New York Times opinion piece on Saturday.

US-ally Saudi Arabia launched a bombing campaign in March 2015 against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Iran denies supplying the Houthis with arms.

The new draft resolution needs to be adopted by February 26. To pass, it requires nine votes of the 15-member body and no vetoes – veto power Russia is expected to oppose the UN draft. 

In January, UN monitors reported to the Security Council that Iranian-origin missile remnants and other military equipment were brought into Yemen.

At the time, experts said they had "no evidence as to the identity of the supplier," but found that Iran had violated sanctions by failing to prevent the weapons from falling into the Houthis' hands.

In April 2015, the UN Security Council banned the sale or supply of weapons to Houthi leaders.

Haley had previously taken Security Council members to Washington to inspect alleged Iranian-origin weapons found in Yemen – Iran called the displayed arms "fabricated".

On Saturday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said during a visit to New Delhi that his country would adhere to the nuclear deal signed in 2015.